The principles disclosed relate to the detection of a toxic particulate or gas. More particularly, this disclosure concerns a detection and air evacuation system for use in the home that responds to the presence of a toxic contaminate by deactivating and activating devices of the household to decrease the amount of particulate or gas contamination.
Toxic airborne contaminates are difficult to detect, especially when such contaminates are odorless or present at levels within the home or office that cannot be smelled or are masked by other odors. Carbon monoxide is one such contaminate that is odorless and colorless, and has no warning of its presence. This particular contaminate is a serious hazard because carbon monoxide has strong attraction to hemoglobin. Oxygen in the lungs, which normally combines with hemoglobin, is replaced by carbon monoxide when present in the lungs. In high enough concentration, hemoglobin that has combined with carbon monoxide can cause poisoning and death in some cases.
The threat of other types of toxic contamination also exists within homes and office buildings. For example, smoke and smoke particulates, propane gas, methane gas, radon gas, and other toxic particulates or gases can create hazardous situation for occupants.
Recent gas and particulate sensing devices have come into the market to warn consumers of the presence of high levels of contaminates. These devices typically comprise a sensing material or device and an alarm or warning mechanism. While these devices warn of existing dangerous conditions, most devices do not react to assist in reducing or remedying the dangerous contamination condition.
While precautions can be taken to minimize the possibility of poisoning, accidental or inadvertent contamination does occur. In general, improvement has been sought with respect to detection and alarm systems, generally to provide a reliable system of detection that better safeguards against the dangerous effects of existing toxic contaminates.
One aspect of the present invention relates to a system that detects a toxic contaminate in the home and activates several systems.
Another aspect of the present invention relates to a system that activates an air ventilation system by accessing clear environmental air upon detection of a predetermined condition within a home.
Yet another aspect of the present invention relates to a system that detects a toxic contaminate within the home and deactivates appliances in response to the contamination.